Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Credit: PTI file photo
Mumbai: Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday said his party's defeat was "shocking" and dubbed it as the "worst-ever" loss in the state assembly polls.
Talking to PTI, Chavan said the Maha Yuti government's Ladki Bahin Yojana, for providing financial assistance to women, clicked with voters in rural areas while polarisation hit the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) prospects in urban parts of the state.
"It is difficult to say whether there was a wave or tampering," said Chavan, who lost from his Karad South seat.
The results of the November 20 polls to the 288-member state assembly were announced on Saturday.
Several bigwigs from the MVA, including Chavan, were defeated.
The Congress, which contested 101 seats as part of the MVA, posted its worst-ever defeat by managing to win only 16 seats.
Chavan said he was expecting to win his Karad South seat in Satara district by 5,000 to 6,000 votes. But, all MVA nominees in the district lost by nearly a margin of 40,000 votes, he noted.
BJP's Atul Bhosale defeated the former CM in Karad South by a margin of 39,355 votes, as per the results announced by the Election Commission on Saturday.
Chavan said that in the 1977 Lok Sabha polls, Congress' tally of 20 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra was the lowest ever.
"This is a shocking defeat and is the worst-ever in the assembly polls," he said, referring to the just concluded state elections.
Chavan said he had spoken to All India Congress Committee in-charge for Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala, who has left for Delhi to discuss the state results with the Congress leadership.
"I will stay back in Karad for two days to meet people," Chavan said.
Maharashtra Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here
Jharkhand Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here
Bypoll 2024 results | Check Karnataka results here
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls took place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP went up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress tried to make their mark. Maha Yuti are currently comfortably poised to win. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faced a challenge after Hemant Soren's arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP, but look set to retain power with its I.N.D.I.A. allies. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
Subscribe and follow DH on Whatsapp, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to never miss out on anything.